Recently, studies into impartation of high functionality, such as high transparency, to materials used in product models, is actively underway as the industry has advanced and the life has become diverse.
For example, research into giving transparency to existing materials, such as washing machine covers through which laundry is shown, cleaner dust collectors by which how much dust is collected can be checked, toys, game machine housings, and transparent windows of home appliances, is intensively underway.
An acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS) resin, which has been widely used in these products, has excellent properties such as excellent impact resistance, chemical resistance, processability, and surface gloss. However, since this resin is inherently opaque, application thereof to cases requiring transparency is limited.
In general, a polycarbonate (PC) resin, a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) resin, a polystyrene (PS) resin, a polyacrylonitrile-styrene (SAN) resin, and the like are used as a transparent resin.
However, while such a polycarbonate (PC) resin has superior impact strength, transparency, and the like, processability thereof is poor, thereby making it difficult to produce complicated products. While a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) resin has superior optical properties, but impact resistance and chemical resistance thereof are very poor. In addition, a polystyrene (PS) resin, a polyacrylonitrile-styrene (SAN) resin, and the like have very poor impact resistance and chemical resistance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,833, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 1999-147020, European Patent No. 703,252, and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 1996-199008 disclose a method of introducing an acrylic acid alkyl ester or methacrylic acid alkyl ester compound to an ABS resin having superior impact resistance, chemical resistance, processability, and the like to impart transparency. However, since the imparted transparency has a limitation, application thereof to products, which have a haze of greater than 2.0 and thus in which a PMMA resin, a PC resin, an SAN resin, or the like is used, thick injection-molded products, or products requiring high transparency is limited.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a transparent resin having further improved transparency to provide transparency shown in products using a PC resin, an SAN resin, and the like and improved properties such as improved impact strength.